Find a Dog Who'll Eat a Dog

by Michael Shea, Blue Gill Thrall

16th April 2020

Seasons Six and Seven of Deep Space Nine showed us a Federation locked in a battle for its very survival, and we got to see a side of Starfleet that, at that point, we'd never seen before. They were desperate. They were morally ambiguous. They were gritty. Perhaps no character in Trek has ever summed-up the effect of war on humanity better than Quark in "The Siege of AR-558":

"Let me tell you something about humans, nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time, and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon."

The first card I'll discuss today; Reese, Grizzled Survivor; shows us a bit of that desperate will to survive, and marks the first time any the Heroes of AR-558 have been depicted in Trek CCG as personnel.

This card is a solid 6-6-6-attributed personnel with a Command Star and a broad range of skills. He's good against Archaic Snare, Dsigraceful Assault, Divergent Goals, Mugato, Stolen Computer Core, and many others. But his ability really speaks to the events depicted in "The Siege of AR-558": he's a survivor and a protector. When he is an eligible target for a random selection - either from dilemmas or in battle - as long as he is at a mission you may exclude him and one other personnel from random selection. That can be a real advantage against ACE-TT kill piles, Chula piles, dilemmas like Adopted Authority or Intimidation, but also against Bajoran, Dominion, and Klingon combat shenanigans. In adition, if you're interested in keeping your entire crew or away team from being wiped out by combos involving dilemmas or equipment, Reese is your man.

Bringing the Heroes of AR-558 to life in Second Edition is a privilege, and something I hope you're as excited about as I am. And, for those of you who are fans of the this episode and have been wondering, as I have, why it's taken this long to get these characters on cards, all I can say is don't give up hope. Consider this Grizzled Survivor a preview of good things to come.

The second card I'll discuss today is a mission that is intended to fit into in what I'll call, for lack of a better term, the "Dominion War" suite of missions. These include Clash at Chin'toka; Cardassia Prime, Secure Homeworld; Farius Prime, Approach Criminal Organization; Military Excercises; Penetrate Enemy Lines; Plot Invasion; Restock Ketracel White; Signal for Rescue; and the Siege of AR-558. These are all Alpha Quadrant missions that are attempt-able both by the Dominon and the Federation and which depict events we know or assume to have taken place during the Dominion War. Many of these missions also have overlapping skill matrices which makes the notion of building a deck around this mission suite an intriguing notion for fans of Deep Space Nine.

This mission, called Bajoran Sector, Engage Enemy Forces, makes the prospect of building a viable deck with this mission suite all the more enticing. The mission's skill matrix is intimidating, but for the Federation, it can be done and quite well: Engineer, Honor, Leadership, Navigation, Officer, 2 Security, and Strength>46. For the time being, [ES9] has a bit of a tough time making it work, but can handle it with little to worry to about. And, for the Dominion player who's just determined to complete a 50 point mission, the Jem'Hadar actually don't too much trouble meeting the requirements for this mission either, though they get no bonus.

A personnel wish-list item for me is to put together a deck using the Dominion suite missions centered around Benjamin Sisko, Resourceful Captain and his ship, the improbably subtitled Salvaged Attack Ship, Sheep in Wolf's Clothing. And, while Reese, Grizzled Survivor will no doubt play a key role in such a deck, their time to truly shine has yet to arrive. In the meantime, I hope you'll indulge as I engage in a little fantasy deck-building and imagine what might happen had the Bluegills taken over the Federation and then engaged in war with the Dominion.

This deck relies on the rich skill complement of the crew and all of the usual Blue Gill bells and whistles. Once again, War Without End is here to push the deck over the edge for a two-mission win. The dilemma pile is a fairly standard mixed Chula pile that also sprinkles in a few high-cost dilemmas to take advantage of the large number of events in the deck.

Discuss this article in this thread.

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• Next Generation Player
• TNG = Tough
• Unbroken I
• How About a New Mission, Admiral? I
• Chula: Not a Game
• Good Casting: Spiner (Data)

Decklist

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemma Deck Total Dilemmas 38 Space 5 (13%) Cost 4 3 Cost 8 2 Planet 5 (13%) Cost 4 1 Cost 8 4 Dual 28 (74%) Cost 0 5 Cost 1 4 Cost 2 8 Cost 3 7 Cost 4 4 Total Dilemma Deck cost 121

Draw Deck Total Draw Deck 52 Event 15 (29%) Cost 0 4 Cost 1 8 Cost 4 3 Personnel 32 (62%) Cost 2 5 Cost 3 9 Cost 4 16 Cost 6 2 Ship 5 (10%) Cost 3 2 Cost 6 3 Total Draw Deck cost 157

Skills Count Skill # Missions # Personnel 1x 2x 3x Total Acquisition 0 0 Anthropology 0 6 6 Archaeology 0 6 1 7 Astrometrics 1 5 1 6 Biology 0 6 6 Diplomacy 0 6 4 10 Engineer 3 12 2 14 Exobiology 0 8 8 Geology 0 3 3 Honor 1 10 10 Intelligence 0 2 2 Law 0 3 3 Leadership 4 12 12 Medical 0 4 1 5 Navigation 2 7 1 8 Officer 2 13 13 Physics 1 5 1 6 Programming 1 6 2 8 Science 0 6 6 Security 3 11 1 12 Telepathy 0 1 1 Transporters 0 5 1 6 Treachery 0 6 1 7 Icons Count Icon # Personnel % Personnel Staffing Icons Command Star 18 56.25 % Staff Star 11 34.38 % Faction Icons Earth 6 18.75 % Next Generation 26 81.25 % Temporal Icons Alternate Universe 13 40.63 % Keyword Count Keyword # Cards Admiral 5 Bluegill 3 Cloaking Device 2 Commander: U.S.S. Enterprise-D 4 Commander: U.S.S. Phoenix 1 Commander: U.S.S. Yamato 1 Decay: 5 2 Genetically Enhanced 4 Maneuver 2 Paranoia 3 Q 1 Region: Cardassia System 1 Region: Sector 001 1 Temporal 2